Syngenta’s decision to scrap its Canadian wheat-breeding program is a wake-up call, industry officials warn. Canada needs an improved royalty system to reward wheat breeders for new varieties or more private breeders could pull out, according to some, while others say it’s critical public breeders are well funded in case they do. But a recent
Syngenta pulling out of cereal crop breeding Canada
The decision comes as royalty discussions start to heat up
Elevator operators seek quick end to CN strike
The Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) wants grain shipments on Canadian National Railway (CN) to resume as soon as possible. “It has a major impact for every day that we’re not moving grain on CN,” WGEA executive director Wade Sobkowich said in an interview Tuesday. “A federal mediator has been appointed and that’s a step
Knowing your wheat’s falling number critical this year
[UPDATED: Nov. 22, 2019] The ‘harvest from hell’ has resulted in one of the worst years in recent memory for sprout damage. That’s pushed down falling numbers and — since grain buyers have different approaches to handling this issue — increased the need for farmers to know the falling numbers for their wheat. But if
Book chronicles the rise and fall of farmer-owned grain companies
Paul Earl concludes Agricore United didn’t have to be sacrificed on the altar of shareholder primacy
What began in 2004 as a history of United Grain Growers (UGG) founded in 1906, morphed into a chronicling of the birth and death of the West’s farmer-owned, co-operative grain companies and an investigation and challenging of the notion of shareholder primacy, which delivered the final blow to farmer dominance in the grain business and
Another year, another round of broken grain transport records
Western grain movement, export records set in 2018-19 crop year
The 2018-19 crop year, ended July 31, was record setting for Western Canada’s grain-handling and transportation system. While industry officials are pleased, they agree the system needs to move even more because farmers keep producing more. “At the rate we are going today… by the time we get to 2030 we’re going to be looking
Manitoba Thunder Bay grain shipments set modern record
For the first time in 20 years, Manitoba shipped more grain through the Port of Thunder Bay than Saskatchewan. “Historically, Manitoba grain has accounted for about a third of the grain shipments through Thunder Bay,” Chris Heikkinen, the port’s communications and research co-ordinator, said in an email Nov. 5. “This has changed over the past
Canada working to diversify canola seed sales
This crop year exports to several countries have risen
Canada is working to diversify its canola seed sales, says Brian Innes, the Canola Council of Canada’s vice-president of public affairs. “As an industry we are doing what we can to diversify,” Innes said in an interview from Geneva, Switzerland Oct. 28 where Canada and China had their first face-to-face meeting over the canola dispute.
MASC wants payments to farmers out quickly to aid cash flow
That means some payments will be advanced before claims are settled
Getting crop insurance payments out quickly to eligible Manitoba farmers is a top priority for the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) in the wake of the most challenging harvest in years. That includes, where applicable, advancing claim payments to farmers who still have unharvested crop and crop insurance claims haven’t been finalized, David Van Deynze, MASC’s vice-president of
Worries begin for how 2019’s wet conditions could impact 2020
KAP president Bill Campbell says get Excess Moisture Insurance — the deadline is Dec. 2
This is probably not the year to skip Excess Moisture Insurance, according to Minto-area farmer and KAP president Bill Campbell. As Manitoba farmers struggle to get the rest of this year’s crop off, there are already worries about what 2020 might bring. “In our particular area we may not seed a crop,” Keystone Agricultural Producers
Manitoba farmers need manure spreading flexibility this fall
The Manitoba government’s deadline is almost here, but wet weather has kept applicators out of the field
The manure could soon hit the proverbial fan. The Nov. 10 deadline for applying manure to Manitoba fields, as well as fertilizer, is just a few days away. As of last week many livestock farmers hadn’t emptied their hog manure lagoons or cattle pens because wet weather prevented some fields from being harvested, while many
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